Cookie's Corner is off to a rough start. Or rather, nearby neighbors in Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park are already outraged - if this blog's comments are any indication - with the place, creating controversy even as this new market has not fully rolled out its offerings. Why?
Plexiglass.
Oh sure, there's more to it than that, but local denizens, without ever setting foot in the place, are ready to pass judgment based on the decision to install a barrier between employees and customers. Nevermind that said barrier is actually a series of tastefully stained wooden frames and smaller plexiglass squares. Nevermind that a neighbor was recently attacked just three blocks away at 6:30 in the evening - still broad daylight in DC at that time. Nevermind the shop is otherwise open and airy, with well-organized shelves and coolers. Nevermind. They put in plexiglass, so it must be a horrible, disgusting place.
What is it about these clear barriers in corner stores that gets people so worked up? Do we think less of our banks because the tellers sit behind plexiglass? We buy movie tickets from people sitting behind plexiglass. We engage with Metro train station supervisors and customer service agents at Metro Center with a layer of plexiglass separating both parties. We pick up and drop off our cable boxes to Comcast employees behind plexiglass.
Truth be told, plexiglass barriers are as simple a fact of daily life in a big-city as are safety bars across basement and first-floor windows. Why do we begrudge employees their safety and security, especially when they're willing to stay open until 10:00pm at night, seven days a week? Isn't it more important to encourage entrepreneurship and local retail options?
It is far too easy to heap complaints about health, safety, product selection, perceived cleanliness, the people who may potentially patronize the place, the color of the paint, the presence of plexiglass and every other possibly negative "what if" scenario without having any experience or facts to back up those conclusions.
Let us in Bloomingdale not stoop to that level. Let us take the higher ground. Let us not pass judgment on our neighbors and our neighborhood businesses without taking the time know and visit with these people and places. And let's not let plexiglass place for a literal and metaphorical barrier in the neighborhood.
You have two options: visit Cookie's Corner and decide whether it is - or is not - an establishment you'd be willing to patronize based on your experience; or never go there and continue to throw stones. I sincerely urge us to consider the first option.
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